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Caribbean shopping trip
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Author:  packrat [ Fri May 08, 2009 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Caribbean shopping trip
A few weeks ago my wife and I took a cruise down to the Carribean. We have been there several times before so I was anticipating a great time. Those of you that have been down there know while the prices may not always be the best, the selection in the stores is fantastic. It is unbelievable to have 3 or 4 Breitling dealers in a 10 square block area, and all will have many different models and variations on each.
The first stop of interest was St. Maarten. Several dealers are there, so while my wife found a beach chair, an umbrella, and a cold beverage, I went shopping.
One of the Carribean chain stores had an excellent selection of watches but nothing that tripped my trigger so I continued down the street to a store called Art of time. This store was formerly called Carat, but was bought several years ago and is now run by a family. Even when they were under the previous owners they have had a good selection of NOS closeout models. The prices are pretty fair, but the attitude they have is deplorable. The product knowledge is non-existent and once again I decided not get anything there even though they had nice older Thunderbirds and Blue Angels special editions.
Fortunately I discovered a smaller shop with a very knowledgeable gentleman who was not selling Breitlings but he managed to sell me a nice watch from a different mfg.
So off to St. Thomas. When I was there before, I met an excellent fellow by the name of Dean Bump. He works at Little Switzerland. Usually he is at the Park store. He is one of the rare salesmen that treats you like you are important even if all you end up buying is a band. It is way to easy to spend a looong time talking with him as he knows his watches. This time I scored big time as they had just reduced the price on a beautiful Chronomatic 24hrLE. He made me a more than great deal.
An observation I have made while shopping down in the Caribbean is more of the "blingy" Breitlings sell down there vs the Navitimer and more conservative models. Consequently you may sometimes find some terrific deals on discontinued models.
Overall, it was a terrific trip! And the watch shopping wasn't bad either.
Author:  jnelson3097 [ Fri May 08, 2009 7:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
I met Dean last year when I was in St. Thomas. He was a nice guy, very knowledgable of the Breitling brand. He noticed my Colt GMT and we started talking about that. When I mentioned I was looking for a CSO at that time, he was really pushing the Skyland over the CSO. He was pretty pushy, trying to get me to sign up for a finance plan and I had a hard time getting away from him. He knew a lot, was just too pushy for me.
Author:  mjb [ Sun May 10, 2009 4:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
I bought my first Rado in Jamaica at a very nice discount and my first Breitling in The Bahamas at a semi-decent discount. Being a well-informed consumer is the best way to do this (I wasn't very knowledgeable and now I know I could have done better).

Good way to justify a trip to the islands though...

Michael
Author:  packrat [ Wed May 13, 2009 5:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
You are correct, knowledge is the key. If you are looking for popular current models, a good relationship with your local AD is hard to beat. However that being said, 4 out of the 5 new Breitlings I have purchased were discontinued models bought in the caribbean. Now if I could just find vintage models with the same selection life would be good!! The bank account would certainly suffer, but sacrifices must be made.
Author:  breitlingfanatic30 [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
Awww, Dean Bump, I know him very well, in fact, I'm waiting on my third piece from him as we speak, lol. He is very personable and extremely knowledgeable however subtle he is definitely not. He got me to get a Little Switzerland account which I have used faithfully for the past few years. It's amazing how small this world truly is!
Author:  boogiebot [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
breitlingfanatic30 wrote:
Awww, Dean Bump, I know him very well, in fact, I'm waiting on my third piece from him as we speak, lol. He is very personable and extremely knowledgeable however subtle he is definitely not. He got me to get a Little Switzerland account which I have used faithfully for the past few years. It's amazing how small this world truly is!



you can get an account with them? is this only offered to the american public? i am assuming since i am canadian i would not be able to open an account?
Author:  H60sarman [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
I too am familiar with Dean. I met him in 2007 when I was vacationing in ST Thomas. I returned over this past X-mas period and there he was in Little Switzerland. Very nice guy. I however purchased my Breitling from Jewels at the Ritz Carlton. Believe it or not the Jewels at the Ritz had the best price on the island. I love that Breitling Boutique also. What does one have to do to open a store like that in Jacksonville Florida?
Author:  H60sarman [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
boogiebot wrote:
breitlingfanatic30 wrote:
Awww, Dean Bump, I know him very well, in fact, I'm waiting on my third piece from him as we speak, lol. He is very personable and extremely knowledgeable however subtle he is definitely not. He got me to get a Little Switzerland account which I have used faithfully for the past few years. It's amazing how small this world truly is!



you can get an account with them? is this only offered to the american public? i am assuming since i am canadian i would not be able to open an account?



http://www.littleswitzerland.com/

Try this
Author:  boogiebot [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
H60sarman wrote:
boogiebot wrote:
breitlingfanatic30 wrote:
Awww, Dean Bump, I know him very well, in fact, I'm waiting on my third piece from him as we speak, lol. He is very personable and extremely knowledgeable however subtle he is definitely not. He got me to get a Little Switzerland account which I have used faithfully for the past few years. It's amazing how small this world truly is!



you can get an account with them? is this only offered to the american public? i am assuming since i am canadian i would not be able to open an account?



http://www.littleswitzerland.com/

Try this


Thank you
Author:  breitlingfanatic30 [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
Yes, you can get an account with them. A few years ago I purchased my Legende from them and used the 12 months same as cash, zero interest and I just ordered my SA while they're offering 24 months same as cash and zero interest. It's a great way to get your Breitling collection up and running, lol. Here is a direct link to the credit card area of LS.


https://onlineaccess.mycreditcard.cc/littleswitzerland
Author:  boogiebot [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
breitlingfanatic30 wrote:
Yes, you can get an account with them. A few years ago I purchased my Legende from them and used the 12 months same as cash, zero interest and I just ordered my SA while they're offering 24 months same as cash and zero interest. It's a great way to get your Breitling collection up and running, lol. Here is a direct link to the credit card area of LS.


https://onlineaccess.mycreditcard.cc/littleswitzerland



breitlingfanatic30 thanks for posting the direct link. i would assume that if they give you 24 month interest free that you can not haggle on price with them.....or can you?

edit: i just went to the link and the offer is for US residents only...DAMMIT! oh well... :cry:
Author:  jnelson3097 [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
My experience at Little Switzerland was 20% off was all you could hope for. I'm sure if you're looking for a deal in Canada, Roff can help you with an AD. I don't know if they finance, but I'd contact him before buying from Little Switzerland.
Author:  boogiebot [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
jnelson3097 wrote:
My experience at Little Switzerland was 20% off was all you could hope for. I'm sure if you're looking for a deal in Canada, Roff can help you with an AD. I don't know if they finance, but I'd contact him before buying from Little Switzerland.


yup roff already hooked me up. i was thinking that having a card like this might come in handy since most AD retailers dont offer something like this.
Author:  breitlingfanatic30 [ Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Caribbean shopping trip
boogiebot wrote:
breitlingfanatic30 wrote:
Yes, you can get an account with them. A few years ago I purchased my Legende from them and used the 12 months same as cash, zero interest and I just ordered my SA while they're offering 24 months same as cash and zero interest. It's a great way to get your Breitling collection up and running, lol. Here is a direct link to the credit card area of LS.


https://onlineaccess.mycreditcard.cc/littleswitzerland



breitlingfanatic30 thanks for posting the direct link. i would assume that if they give you 24 month interest free that you can not haggle on price with them.....or can you?

edit: i just went to the link and the offer is for US residents only...DAMMIT! oh well... :cry:


Boogie, I'm sorry, but check back in February per a convo with Dean via telephone indicating that some policies may be changing, so wether or not other countries will be offered this account is still a possibility. Even with the same as cash, I have still haggled with him and have gotten him to "earn" my business buy telling him what some US AD's have been prepared to offer the same pieces for and he's responded by slightly lowering the process, including shipping and reimbursement of customs charges if any occurred. He has also thrown in several extra straps of my choosing, so all in all, I feel I come out on top and am given a fair price. I'll check with him again regarding the LS accounts for you but sorry that you can't take advantage of it in the meantime, I've ordered 3 Breits so far with 2 more on the way.
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